West connect experiences

Marlow

They might have to up their game in the future, as they're getting more competition.

There's a new rural ISP, that now covers Castlebaldwin and Geevagh.

/M

JJayoo

Has anyone experienced issues with West Connect over the last few weeks? Our broadband has seriously reduced to the point at which I just tend to use the data on my phone.

I have left them multiple messages over the last two weeks but so far have received no response.

mobil 222

JJayoo wrote: »

Has anyone experienced issues with West Connect over the last few weeks? Our broadband has seriously reduced to the point at which I just tend to use the data on my phone.

I have left them multiple messages over the last two weeks but so far have received no response.

What area are you in and what package

JJayoo

It's an unlimited package for 30 per month. Finally got a reply back from them today after trying their number about 20 times and someone is going to come out and check it tomorrow. There is another company offering broadband in the area so will probably swap over if the issue can't be remedied.

martosligo

JJayoo wrote: »

It's an unlimited package for 30 per month. Finally got a reply back from them today after trying their number about 20 times and someone is going to come out and check it tomorrow. There is another company offering broadband in the area so will probably swap over if the issue can't be remedied.

So did they sort it ?

JJayoo

martosligo wrote: »

So did they sort it ?

No they never came out, but my mother got through to them on the phone today and was talking to the boss and he will get someone out later today. She said she was considering cancelling the service and joining another company that is providing broadband to some neighbors and he told her that most of the other ones are illegal/breaking the law and aren't registered and will eventually be shut down

Not sure if this is actually true or was he just trying to spook an old woman who wouldn't have a clue about these topics.

Marlow

JJayoo wrote: »

No they never came out, but my mother got through to them on the phone today and was talking to the boss and he will get someone out later today. She said she was considering cancelling the service and joining another company that is providing broadband to some neighbors and he told her that most of the other ones are illegal/breaking the law and aren't registered and will eventually be shut down

Not sure if this is actually true or was he just trying to spook an old woman who wouldn't have a clue about these topics.

That's sounds like a whole lot of nonsense. It's easy to check though.

First place to check, is the company you look at registred with the CRO: https://search.cro.ie/company/CompanySearch.aspx .. you can search by name or if they're a limited company, their registration number should be on their website. Westconnect actually is breaking the law, by not having that information at the bottom of their website. Or in their contact section. A good example on how it should be done is Northwest Broadbands website: http://www.nwb.ie/ or Airwire: http://www.airwire.ie (at the bottom of every page)

Next place to check is with Comreg: https://serviceregister.comreg.ie/ Just type in the company name and it should tell you what services they are registered for.

Any responsible ISP has their own IP addresses and is most likely registered with RIPE. This is not a requirement though. It just tells you about the quality of service they provide. Have a look if you can find them in this list: https://www.ripe.net/membership/indices/IE.html

To be honest, if he spouts negative comments about the competition, that sounds like slander, he must be really in trouble. I wouldn't buy services of Westconnect, if that's how he conducts his business.

/M

martosligo

So your neighbors service is good? What have they got?

JJayoo

Thanks for the detailed reply Marlow

Martsosligo: A few neighbors have Servebyte and they are pretty happy with it, now I was also happy with WestConnect up until about 5-6 weeks ago. At first I didn't pay that much attention or didn't want to make a fuss especially since before them our service was terrible. Maybe the issue will be resolved today.

JJayoo

Guy was just out and he did something up on the roof. It is a lot faster now.

mobil 222

Have been with West Connect now close to 3 years. Was on their 8 meg package for 2 years and apart from third party disruptions a couple of times there service was good.
Last May i desided to up to their 25 meg package. There was some issues at the beginning concerning parts that had to be fitted at their base station, but this was sorted out after a couple of weeks.
They kept me updated most of the time.
As far as i know their faults section is operated out of hours from a call centre up north,,, I may be wrong about this.
They are very slow and I have learned it is best to contact direct during office hours.
Back in july I started having problems with speed drops after 3 or 4 in the afternoon and i informed them about it.
I spend a few days doing direct speed checks and found the speed dropped down to single digits at the same time every evening .
As I am on a fibre package,they do advertise it as one, my contention ratio would not have been a problem.
There was an outage the first week of August and things have settled down since that.
This company are offering no contracts so i can leave them at any time,i have also experienced no 'trottling/ on their service.
Having come from a telecoms background myself i can see a issue arising with interferance because of the amount of companys now offering wireless broadband,
If a company has a large number of subscribers per distribution then bandwidth will be a problem.
When my connection was been done I remember the installer list out all the base stations that was nearer to me ,but he could not use them because they belonged to someone else.
Where I am from West Connects customer base might not be as much as in other places,but there is no shortage of other companys overing wireless broadband.
Why there was a reduction in my speed only at particular times when bandwidth would not have been a problem !!
My speed was always dipping in and out, my speedcheck app was a joy to even watch, going from 25 down to 5 up to 20 back down to10 etc
While I am paying big money to West Connect monthly,i do deserve a good service but i have an idea on why the problems i had were happening and I don't think they were to blame !!

Marlow

What you describe is generally caused by contention. Not enough bandwidth on the base or too many customers on the sector.

Unless they use specialized gear for their 25 or 50 MBit/s packages on your premise, it will never be right. Their standard gear can deliver 25 MBit/s but not consistent.

Other wireless providers in the area should have no impact if they build their network right.

/M

bennyc

Firstly I don't want to take this into an illegal TV discussion.

Is anyone using an IPTV service via west connect and what are your experiences with lagging buffering, I don't mean Netflix but live TV via smart IPTV apps etc.

I currently have a 4G router with a Three sim installed for unlimited data @€;20 a month, this works perfect for everything except they must have throttled IPTV, it worked for a while and nothing in the last year. Gaming is surprisingly perfect via the 4G connection something that never worked before.

Marlow

bennyc wrote: »

Is anyone using an IPTV service via west connect and what are your experiences with lagging buffering, I don't mean Netflix but live TV via smart IPTV apps etc.

I currently have a 4G router with a Three sim installed for unlimited data @€;20 a month, this works perfect for everything except they must have throttled IPTV, it worked for a while and nothing in the last year. Gaming is surprisingly perfect via the 4G connection something that never worked before.

IPTV using an IPTV app or IPTV box needs a fairly steady stream. I wouldn't recommend trying it on anything less than a 15 Mbit/s connection. It doesn't have to be 15 Mbit/s, but the problem is, that if anyone else in your household is using the connection, then it will stall if you have less.

Eir won't let you order their TV service unless you qualify for 24 Mbit/s minimum. I think Vodafones requirement is even higher before they let you order their TV service.

4G would be very inconsistant, what bandwidth you're getting. So as more subscribers sign up in the area, your IPTV might have gone to pot. It's an unmanaged product.

So, if you consider Westconnect for using it with IPTV you better make sure, they can deliver the bandwidth.

Also .. IPTV services aren't illegal. It's only, if they supply content, that they don't have contracts or agreements for, that it becomes illegal. But that's neither here nor there for this discussion.

/M

bennyc

Marlow wrote: »

IPTV using an IPTV app or IPTV box needs a fairly steady stream. I wouldn't recommend trying it on anything less than a 15 Mbit/s connection. It doesn't have to be 15 Mbit/s, but the problem is, that if anyone else in your household is using the connection, then it will stall if you have less.

Eir won't let you order their TV service unless you qualify for 24 Mbit/s minimum. I think Vodafones requirement is even higher before they let you order their TV service.

4G would be very inconsistant, what bandwidth you're getting. So as more subscribers sign up in the area, your IPTV might have gone to pot. It's an unmanaged product.

So, if you consider Westconnect for using it with IPTV you better make sure, they can deliver the bandwidth.

Also .. IPTV services aren't illegal. It's only, if they supply content, that they don't have contracts or agreements for, that it becomes illegal. But that's neither here nor there for this discussion.

/M

Thanks for that , yes I was able to run SD streams on 4G , which was always stable when over 10MB on three, it started to drop about a year ago and by XMas just did not work, in saying that the 4g has improved, getting up to 30MB now so downloading and Netflix HD / Youtube HD is no issue.

I could only justify paying the extra 40 euro if it was perfect so I am happy for the moment I think,

Marlow

bennyc wrote: »

Thanks for that , yes I was able to run SD streams on 4G , which was always stable when over 10MB on three, it started to drop about a year ago and by XMas just did not work, in saying that the 4g has improved, getting up to 30MB now so downloading and Netflix HD / Youtube HD is no issue.

I could only justify paying the extra 40 euro if it was perfect so I am happy for the moment I think,

Three launched there unlimited / 750GB plan end of last year/start of this year.

So that would have caused a lot of people signing up and less bandwidth being available overall. That's probably what killed it for you.

/M

JJayoo

At the moment, on my laptop, the signal looks poor as in the little internet icon only has one of its rings lit

But

I am able to watch a short HD YouTube video instantly.

bennyc

JJayoo wrote: »

At the moment, on my laptop, the signal looks poor as in the little internet icon only has one of its rings lit

But

I am able to watch a short HD YouTube video instantly.

go to www.speedtest.net and click "GO" that will tell you your speed in terms of download , ping and upload
I think you are looking at the wifi coverage which is the link between you and your router in the house.

JJayoo

bennyc wrote: »

go to www.speedtest.net and click "GO" that will tell you your speed in terms of download , ping and upload
I think you are looking at the wifi coverage which is the link between you and your router in the house.

At the moment
35 ping
6.31 download
2.33 upload

1 minute later
41 ping
8.05 download
2.39 upload

Marlow

JJayoo wrote: »

At the moment, on my laptop, the signal looks poor as in the little internet icon only has one of its rings lit

That's the wifi in your house though and has nothing to do with your internet connection.

Proper speedtests should always done with the PC or Laptop connected by cable to the router or in the case of 4G unit with the unit right besides the laptop.

Otherwise the cause of your bad connection could be your own Wifi. And that has nothing to do with your provider.

/M

JJayoo

The WiFi signal was always fully lit untill the repair guy came.

So it was fully lit and bad internet => badly lit and good internet

Marlow

JJayoo wrote: »

The WiFi signal was always fully lit untill the repair guy came.

So it was fully lit and bad internet => badly lit and good internet

I still wouldn't bet on it. Always test cabled. You're adding too many unknown variable issues. Nobody knows, where it went wrong.

/M

bennyc

Hi all, just wondering how West Connect are getting on at the moment with the surge in home users , is anyone here on the 50MB package ? my little 3 4g setup is struggling so I might need a better option if it was available.

worlds goodest teecher

I'd like to hear reports on their 50mb service as well?

Alan.d246

There Internet is practically useless as I have the 50mb and it is constantly dropping, there customer service is no better than the Internet they can provide, I have been onto them many times and they told me we can't do any more for you and said you could try switch to a different company, if only there was a different company to switch to I would be the first to leave them, would not recommend!!!!